Sicily.

Sicily is a longer-cruise island rather than a single bay, and the routing follows the coast you start from. Palermo anchors the north-west, within a day of the Aeolian islands and the run east along the Tyrrhenian shore toward Cefalù. Taormina and the marina at Riposto sit on the Ionian side beneath Etna, closer to the Strait of Messina and the Calabrian coast. Milazzo is the shortest hop to the Aeolians and the usual embarkation when the archipelago is the point of the week.

The Aeolian islands are the draw. Lipari and Salina for the harbours and the anchorages, Panarea for the summer fleet, and Stromboli for an evening under the active cone. A yacht charter week in Sicily built around the archipelago threads the seven islands over several days, using the sheltered sides as the afternoon breeze fills, then returns to the mainland coast for the passage home.

On the north coast, the stretch from Palermo to Cefalù runs past Capo Zafferano and the Madonie foothills, with Cefalù’s cathedral town a fixture near the eastern end. A typical seven-to-ten-night brief combines the Sicilian coast with the Aeolians in one direction, rather than doubling back, and longer weeks extend west to the Egadi islands or south toward Malta. The crew set the daily timing against the Tyrrhenian afternoon breeze and the ferry traffic in the busier harbours.